An aspiring stand-up, it didn't take long for Simon's skills to be snapped up, landing a role with Jess Stevenson on Asylum and coming up with the idea for Spaced in the process. With best pal Nick Frost on board, Simon's love of Star Wars, movie references and knack for a sharp-witted observation saw Spaced pick up glowing reviews and a devoted army of fans. Luckily Simon had no plans to stop there, continuing to be involved in well, everything he could think of.

Simon's career since could have been concocted by a particularly ambitious scriptwriter, taking in big-budget Hollywood movies, smaller budget British ones and the majority of the finest comedies to hit the small screen in the last decade. Whether making scene-stealing cameos in Black Books or Alan Partridge, or slugging through mud on Band of Brothers, Simon's Midas touch has seen him become the toast of some influential parties. He's even flirted with Megan Fox and kissed Kristen Dunst, even if it was just for a film role, but it still counts we reckon.

As well as all the belly-laughs, buddy pics and A-list shindigs Simon's been involved in he's also found time to hang out in very public places with good pal Chris Martin, recently playing harmonica at Wembley and becoming Godfather to little Apple. If all that wasn't enough, his teen fantasies have also been realised – Simon's starred in Doctor Who and played Scotty in the new smash hit Star Trek, and the producers clearly took notes on his sci-fi wisdom, winning a new generation to the deep-space antics and multi-coloured jumpers of the Enterprise. Simon's also one of only three actors, including Tom Cruise himself, to star in more than one of the Mission Impossible movies. He's reprising his role as Benji Dunn in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol or Mission Impossible 4, as everyone knows it.

Simon is such a cult nerd icon that he's even had a comic book character called Wee Hughie created to look just like him. But despite not actually giving his permission (and while most celebrities would be reaching for their lawyer), Simon quickly became a massive fan and he even wrote the introduction for one of the volumes of The Boys.

These days he's still creating films with partner in crime Nick Frost. Most recently they worked on Paul, an alien flick which showed the guys embarking on a road trip across America. Simon also starred in Burke and Hare, a comedy about graverobbing which was chock full of cameos from his various celeb mates, including Paul Whitehouse, Billy Bailey and Reece Shearsmith.

Currently working on a film provisionally entitled The World's End - which'll be the last in the 'Blood and Ice-Cream trilogy' after flicks Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Simon it seems is never happier than when he's busy. Now here's a fun film fact for all you movie nerds: Did you know each of these films are modelled on a different flavour of Cornetto and the two films released so far have both featured said Cornettos in a scene. Even geekier, this is a veiled reference to French art films The Three Colours Trilogy. Only Simon could pull off such trivia based nerdom and make it work.

A Hollywood player who still has time for his old flatmates – no wonder everyone listens to what Simon says.